How could innovative DSS have assisted in specific crisis situations?
This Ask Dan! builds upon prior discussions of DSS for crisis planning, response and management. Rather than examine this broad topic from a general, abstract or theoretical perspective, there is an advantage to speculating about what might have been possible in specific exemplar situations. My sense is that this type of exercise can improve contingency planning and help us develop more sophisticated DSS. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) website at URL www.who.int, more than 44 countries currently are experiencing a crisis. Not all crises are of equal magnitude and different computerized decision support is needed in different types of crisis situations. Grappling with the complexity of generalizing about DSS for crisis, emergency, disaster and hazard situations has been and is challenging. According to the WHO website, “People are exposed to a crisis when local and national systems are overwhelmed and are unable to meet their basic needs. This may be because of a sudde
